Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is the third and final game in the primary Xenosaga series. It was released on the PlayStation 2 on July 6, 2006 in Japan and on August 29, 2006 in North America. Also sprach Zarathustra, literally "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", is the title to Nietzsche's most famous work, which introduced the Übermensch and popularized the phrase "God is dead". (Xenosaga Episode III Walkthrough here) Plot Episode III begins a year after Abel's Ark's first appearance, which had swallowed the Zohar before disappearing from normal space. The various parties had went about their lives; Jin Uzuki continues to work with Jr. and gang behind the scenes to investigate Ormus while Shion Uzuki returned to Vector Industries with KOS-MOS. Approximately 6 months after that event, Gnosis attacks began to happen more frequently, targeting cities around the star cluster. Due to the precision of these attacks, many believed that someone was controlling the location of the attacks that were happening. These attacks are termed Gnosis Terrorism. It was during one of the investigations by Jin's group on the Gnosis terrorism that Shion discovers a link between her father and U-TIC, while suspecting Vector to have a hand in these terror attacks. Shion resigned her job as Chief of First R&D of Vector and joined the underground organization Scientia, an anti-U.M.N rebel group. Enlisting the help of Miyuki Itsumi (her assistant from Vector), Canaan and Doctus (a prominent member of Scientia), Shion broke into Vector's secret facility to obtain valuable information that was originally only accessible to high level members of Vector. The information led to the discovery of Project Canaan, of which its true purpose was unknown at this point. Meanwhile, Vector transferred the KOS-MOS project to the Federation military. Allen Ridgeley (the new Chief) was sent together with KOS-MOS to the federation capital, Fifth Jerusalem. 6 months after Shion resigned, Allen invited her to visit him at Fifth Jerusalem. Shion arrived to discover that KOS-MOS was scheduled to face off against the federation's newest weapon in a public demonstration. With the help of Juli Mizrahi and Allen, Shion was able to witness the federation's weapons, T-elos and Omega Res Novae. Telos is a human-like android that looks similar to KOS-MOS. Her capabilities far exceeds those of KOS-MOS. Omega Res Novae was the Proto Omega that was salvaged by the federation after the last battle in Ep II. With the help of Sellers (who had joined up with Dimitri Yuriev), they managed to power the machine with the help of a fake Zohar Emulator (not the ones that was built by Joachim Mizrahi). KOS-MOS was badly beaten by Omega Res Novae, which resulted in the termination of the KOS-MOS project. It was at this moment that a huge mysterious asteroid/landmass appeared in space. Jr. together with MOMO and the Elsa departs to investigate it. When they arrived at the area, they were attacked by Margulis in his E.S. During the battle, the Elsa was damaged and crash-landed on the asteroid, which Margulis refers to as Rennes-le-Château. At this moment, a hypersphere of energy erupted from the landmass. Jr. and gang barely managed to escape to the Durandal. The hypersphere wraps around the landmass, trapping the Elsa in it. Juli deduced that only KOS-MOS has the ability to break open the hypersphere for them to rescue the Elsa. The team made their way to Fifth Jerusalem and met up with Shion. Together, they broke into the federation compound to salvage KOS-MOS, which had been dumped at the scrap yard. With KOS-MOS's help, they managed to break into Rennes-le-Château and made contact with the Elsa. While investigating the area, they were attacked by the Blue Testament, who revealed himself as Lieutenant Luis Virgil, who was killed by KOS-MOS in Episode I. After fighting him off, the team came upon an old tomb. At this moment, Telos appeared and fought with KOS-MOS. In a one-sided affair, KOS-MOS was destroyed by Telos. Suddenly, Shion's pendant began to emit a bright light. When they came to, they found themselves back on Old Miltia, exactly 15 years ago, days before the disappearance of Old Miltia. With no sign of both Telos and KOS-MOS, the group proceed to look for the Elsa. During the journey, they rescued a young Federation soldier from U-TIC soldiers, who was revealed as the young Virgil. They brought him to an old church, where he was treated by Febronia (who had donated parts of her organs to him). It was there that they met the young Shion, who was just a child 15 years ago. When they found the Elsa, they discovered that KOS-MOS's core module was damaged and may never wake again. Also, the Vessels of Anima that powered their E.S. machines were missing. Determined to investigate her father's involvement with U-TIC, Shion infiltrated Labyrinthos with Allen. When she was there, she met up with her father and discovered that her mother was one of the patients housed in the facility and confined his involvement with U-TIC. She also met the young Kevin Winnicot (her deceased lover & KOS-MOS's creator), who was serving as Joachim Mizrahi's assistant and caretaker of Febronia. She found KOS-MOS's basic theory on Kevin's computer and hastily copied it. Shion and Allen returned to the team with the information that the obtained. With the data from Kevin and the help of the Professor, they rebuilt KOS-MOS into version 4. At this moment, the Black Testament attacked the Elsa and attempted to steal the un-activated KOS-MOS. When the Black Testament was about to kill Shion, KOS-MOS awoke and rescued her. With her help, the team fought off the Black Testament. In a bid to attempt to change history and prevent the Miltian Conflict from happening, the team returned to Labyrinthos. They found the Vessels of Anima in the base and stole them. When they were escaping from the place with their E.S., Shion heard her mother's name being called over the public announcement system, and returned to Labyrinthos to find her. She was caught in her attempt and was questioned by the younger Margulis, Kevin and her father. Hours away from the federation's 3rd descent operation (which triggered the full-scale battles), the team decides to return to Labyrinthos to rescue Shion. While held captive, Shion realizes that her father (who does not know she is the older Shion) was secretly aiding her. In the chaos of the battle between the U-TIC soldiers and the Federation forces, he asked Shion to go look for the young Shion at the church and bring her to safety. When the team reached the church, they realized that it was attacked by Realian troops that went crazy due to the Song of Nephilim. Febronia was killed in her attempt to save the recuperating Virgil and the young Shion. Virgil, who had developed a relationship with Febronia while during her care, fought the Realian troops to help the rest escape. It was during this moment that the Blue Testament (Virgil) appeared. Just as he was about to attack the team, Febronia appeared and convinced him to abandon this Testament duty and together, they disappeared into the twilight. In the chaos, young Shion had returned to Labyrinthos to look for her parents. The team returned to Labyrinthos and found the place to be a mess. Crazy Realians had overran the facility. In a bid to save the young Shion, Shion's father sacrificed himself. The Realians had also brutally murdered Shion's mother in her ward. Filled with grief and anger after witnessing her parents' death, young Shion cried out to the heavens, summoning Gnosis in Old Miltia. Shocked by the realization that it was her who had caused the Gnosis to appear, Shion began to glow as well. Abel's Ark appeared in normal space and Wilhelm proclaims the first awakening. The Red Testament appeared at this moment together with T-elos and revealed himself as Kevin Winnicot. Kevin began to explain how Shion, like her mother, has the ability to "talk" with U-DO. Therefore, by staying with KOS-MOS (who draws power from the Zohar), she is slowly and surely losing her life. Filled with love and misery, Shion attempted to leave with Kevin, but was stopped by the team. The team escaped to the Elsa and returned back to normal time. It was later that they realized that they had made a dive into Shion's subconscious. Due to the trauma of her parents' death, Shion has suppressed those memories deep inside her. Thus the goal of the Testaments was to re-awake her conscious and bring the Abel's Ark back into normal space. Meanwhile, Dimitri Yuriev, who had took over Gaigiun's body, set off with Merkabah and his Federation fleet for Abel's Ark. To stop him, the team infiltrated Merkabah in the Elsa during the chaotic battle between the Gnosis, the Federation as well as the Ormus fleet led by Margulis. The team met Sellers, who revealed that Yuriev needed the Zohar emulators to unite with Abel's Ark. At this moment, the Federation forces attacked and boarded the Durandal. All the crew were killed except for Mary and Shelly, who both held the Arbiter code that seals off the Zohar emulators on board the Durandal. The team returned to the Durandal but was too late to stop Dimitri Yuriev, who succeed in activating the emulators. The team just about managed to escape from the Durandal before it was rammed into Abel's Ark, transforming the Ark. Determined to stop his father, Jr. led the team into the Ark and defeated Yuriev. At the final moment, the White Testament appeared and revealed himself as Albedo. Albedo draws out the Zohar and Abel and sent them away. Together with Jr., they linked up to try to absorb Gaignun (Nigredo)'s will into Jr.'s mind to save him. However, sensing Albedo's wish (that is to kill Nigredo, who was created to kill the Red Dragon, Rubedo aka Jr.), Nigredo forced himself into Albedo's body and transferred Albedo's mind into Jr. Nigredo sacrificed himself and perished together with Dimitri Yuriev. Albedo finally fulfill his wish of psychically linking with Jr. and disappeared into Jr.'s consciousness. Just before Albedo disappeared, he informed Jr. that the Zohar and Abel was sent to the planet Michtam. The team left for Michtam in the Elsa, in which its space was currently engulfed in a fierce battle by the Ormus fleet and the Gnosis. At this moment, Cardinal Heinlein revealed himself to Margulis. Heinlein is actually Wilhelm in disguise. Wilhelm revealed that he created the Ormus, Vector and Hyam industries for his own purposes. Shattered by their blind faith, Margulis and Pellegri descended into Michtam and fought Jin's group to the death. In the main cathedral of Michtam, the group fought against the Black Testament. Voyager, as Ziggy calls him, fought with Ziggy but Ziggy was no match for him. Voyager was the man who murdered his wife and child. Voyager revealed that he had tried to convince Ziggy to be a Testament together with him, and that many of the group's members are also suitable candidates to be a Testament. At this moment, Canaan came forth and revealed himself as Lactis, and explained the true purpose of Project Canaan. He was created by Wilhelm to observe for suitable traits in the team as candidates to be a Testament. Sensing Voyager's greed for power, Canaan tricked him into attempting to link with Wilhelm's Compass of Order and Chaos. However Voyager could not absorb that power and both of them vanished into another dimension. The team continues to breach the facility, and fought with Telos again. Telos revealed that she has the body of Mary Magdalene, while KOS-MOS had her will stored in her. Thus she needs to destroy KOS-MOS to absorb that will into her body for her full awakening. Telos also calls Shion as the Maiden of Magdalene, who holds the key to her will. KOS-MOS easily defeated Telos and fully awakens. At this moment, Kevin appeared and tried to convince KOS-MOS and Shion to his side. Shion was blinded by her love and joined him, but was convinced by Allen that Kevin is wrong, that the happiness she will get will not be happiness if she cannot share it with her friends. At this moment, Kevin was called back by Wilhelm. The team proceeded to Zarathustra and along with it, Wilhelm. He revealed that the universe is on the verge of being destroyed. To save the world, he will need to use the power of Anima, as well as the Zohar and Zarathustra to remake the world, and bring it back to the origins again so that they can live this life over and over again, through the process of "eternal recurrence". But to do that, he needs the desire of Shion, as she holds the key to Mary Magdalene's will. It was also revealed that chaos originally had the power of Anima, but was deemed too dangerous and sealed away by Mary Magdalene. The process had caused Mary's death and those power became the Vessels of Anima. Only Mary can unseal that power and only Shion can make Mary do it. Wilhelm tortures Shion to force her to will it. Unable to bear his love from the sufferings, Kevin attacked Wilhelm which halted Shion's torture. Wilhelm reveals that he had anticipated that Kevin would betray him, as he became a Testament only to save Shion. Wilhelm then presumed torturing Shion, and Kevin along with her. Zarathustra is then later unleashed, and seizing his opportunity, Kevin lunges his arm through Wilhelm, in an attempt to control and suppress Zarathustra through Wilhelm (who is the self proclaimed "operator" of Zarathustra), although the end result would end in both Wilhelm's and Kevin's death. Before this, chaos told Wilhelm that he believes mankind has the will to change that future and prevent the universe from destruction. The party then attacks Zarathustra, and maintains it. Later, Wilhelm acknowledges chaos's will and disappeared together with Kevin. In order to fully stop Zarathustra, which had gone out of control due to the collective minds that was gathered by Wilhelm previously, Mary releases the seal to chaos's power and together with Nephilim, KOS-MOS and Abel, chaos attempts to bring those wills back to Lost Jerusalem, back to the origin of time. He urges the rest to escape, that they have a mission to change this world. In their escape, they noticed a lot of Gnosis gathering around the area. Those Gnosis did not want to leave the world and thus were going to stop chaos and Nephilim from completing their ritual. After alighting the team, Jin bade farewell as he departs in Asher to return to assist chaos in fending off the Gnosis. A battle erupted as Jin and KOS-MOS fought against the Gnosis to shield chaos. Jin lost his life and KOS-MOS sacrificed herself in an explosion. At this moment, space and time warped. All U.M.N. networks had disappeared. The Elsa had escaped from the space warp and met up with the Dammerung. At the end, Jr., Shion and Allen, together with the Elsa, set off to look for Lost Jerusalem. Gameplay Music At the start of Episode III's development, Yuki Kajiura (Xenosaga Episode II, .hack//SIGN, Noir, and Madlax) became the sole composer in Xenosaga III. A handful of remixes, arrangements and reappearances of tracks from the "Xenosaga Episode II: Movie Scene Soundtrack" appear in the game. The game soundtrack, "Xenosaga Episode III: Original Sound Best Tracks (Yuki Kajiura selection)" was announced for a 2CD release on July 12. It consists of 40 tracks selected by Yuki Kajiura from the game (though it is not a complete release of all the tracks). The ending theme of the game is called "Maybe Tomorrow", sung by Emily Curtis. The soundtrack also contains vocals by Eri Itoh. The soundtrack follows the style of Kajiura's Episode II soundtrack with several key themes from Episode II, chief among them KOS-MOS' theme, appearing throughout the game. Censorship The North American release of the game was briefly censored, the majority of these edits were for scenes of violence and blood that would have elevated the game beyond the "Teen" rating given by the ESRB to the "Mature" level. The storyline however, remains identical in both the original Japanese release and the North American versions. For example, a noticeable instance of the editing of a scene in which Shion reacts to the death of her mother by "putting it (the blood) back" in her.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Y_a-eRaYI In the North American version, Shion has nothing in her hands, even though she says and acts like she does. In the ending, Jin is stabbed through the chest and his blood is also censored. Reception Episode III received generally good reviews, and the majority of media and fan outlets felt that the game improved upon Episode II, which many considered a disappointing sequel to the first installment. Specifically, many felt that the new battle system, although typical RPG fare, was an improvement over the complicated "zone break" system used in Episode II, and that the voice acting was much improved with the return of several popular voice actors which were inexplicably recast for Episode II (notably Lia Sargent as Shion and Bridget Hoffman as KOS-MOS). According to Bandai-Namco's 3rd Quarter 2006 results, Episode III sold 343,000 copies in Japan and North America. *Famitsu review: 32/40 *IGN Review: 8.0/10 *Gamespot Review: 8.0/10 *Gamespy Review: 3.5/5 *GamePro Review: 4/5 *RPG Fan Review: 89/100 *PSM Review: 8/10 http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/xenosagaepisode3/review.html?mode=web *OPM Review: 9/10 http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/xenosagaepisode3/review.html?mode=web *Electronic Gaming Monthly Review: 7.5/10 http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/xenosagaepisode3/review.html?mode=web *MetaCritic's Review Average: 82% Category:Series installments